California Today: Meet L.A.’s New Design Czar

For more than a decade, Christopher Hawthorne has had his dream job: architecture critic at The Los Angeles Times. From his perch, he has explored the region’s history and pondered the future of the urban landscape.

Mr. Hawthorne broke some surprising news to readers on Monday: He is leaving the newspaper to become the chief design officer for Mayor Eric Garcetti. The role grew in part out of Mr. Hawthorne’s conversations with the mayor during “Third L.A.,” a public lecture series Mr. Hawthorne led at Occidental College. During one event, he and the mayor spoke about the idea of a design czar, a position other cities have recently created. Soon after, Mr. Garcetti offered him the job.

We spoke to Mr. Hawthorne about his decision, his vision of the new role and what the next decade holds for Los Angeles. Here’s some of our conversation, which has been edited and condensed:

Working inside City Hall is a big change. What made you decide to do so? I’ve always been interested in the intersection of politics and architecture. A lot is up for grabs, in terms of the civic identity of L.A. For me, it really is about the timing. The mayor has a five-and-half-year term, and on top of that there is the arrival of the Olympics in 2028. It’s rare that a city has that kind of civic deadline. It’s really an ideal time frame. It’s long enough to take on some ambitious projects, but not so distant that it feels too abstract and too far-off. We have housing and transit funding in hand that was approved by voters, so bringing that all together and leveraging it is key.

What’s the biggest challenge for L.A. right now? Housing and homelessness are No. 1, there’s no question about that. We have an affordability crisis and a homelessness crisis on our hands. I think the mayor is really committed to building as much housing as possible. We also have a re-embrace of the public realm. We have an underappreciated history of a rich tradition of transit and public space, but it’s also fair to say that the city really lost that thread.

What is your favorite building in Los Angeles? I’ll give you two: I love the Central Library as a piece of architecture and idea. I find it remarkable that it has been able to absorb all these changes in the city and culture. The other is the Eames House in Pacific Palisades, it really embodies an L.A. idea about architecture that is really meaningful to me.

California Online

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• President Trump’s visit to California on Tuesday is the first time he has come to this state since he campaigned here during the 2016 Republican presidential primary. He will fly into San Diego, view prototypes of a border wall being built along the Mexican border, speak to troops at a nearby military base and then attend a high-dollar fund-raiser in Beverly Hills. [The New York Times]

• The police are bracing for large and spontaneous protests during Mr. Trump’s visit to the state. [The Los Angeles Times]

• Some companies submitted border wall concepts that were far afield from the ones Mr. Trump will see Tuesday. [The New York Times]

• Mr. Trump on Monday blocked Broadcom’s bid to buy San Diego-based chip maker Qualcomm, citing national security concerns. The move underscored the extent to which the administration will go to shelter American companies from foreign competition. [The New York Times]

• The Justice Department on Monday criticized California’s attorney general, Xavier Becerra, for requesting that a case over so-called sanctuary laws be moved from Sacramento to San Francisco. [Politico]

• A spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement resigned because he “didn’t want to perpetuate misleading facts” following a controversial immigration sweep in Northern California. [The San Francisco Chronicle]

• Los Angeles City Council members have the power to halt housing development simply by withholding a “letter of acknowledgment,” which they can use as a political tool. [The Los Angeles Times]

• “Pelota Mixteca,” a game traditionally played by indigenous people throughout the Americas, is keeping Oaxacan language and culture alive. [The New York Times]

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Pelota mixteca is a way of keeping its players’ culture alive, and serves as a network for an immigrant community throughout the West Coast.CreditG L askew II for The New York Times

• A storm in the northern part of the state could drop more than 100 inches of snow on the Sierra Nevada. [The Sacramento Bee]

• Despite efforts by Mayor Eric Garcetti, Los Angeles has struggled to add more women to the fire department in recent years. [The Los Angeles Times]

• A New York Times Op-Ed about restaurant workers applauds California’s minimum-wage requirements for tipped employees. [The New York Times]

• Visitors will be able to learn the history of Berkeley’s Telegraph Avenue through a smartphone-enabled walking tour, debuting later this month. [The East Bay Times]

And Finally ...

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Councilman Jose Huizar, left, at the groundbreaking for a new statue in downtown Los Angeles.CreditLA Councilmember Jose Huizar

Shovels in hand, in a sheen of smiles and sunshine, local community leaders last week broke ground in downtown Los Angeles on a new statue commemorating the contributions of the “braceros,” guest workers from Mexico who came to the United States during World War II amid an agricultural labor shortage.

Millions of the guest workers came to the United States through the “Mexican Farm Labor Program” between 1942 and 1964, according to the Bracero History Archive. It’s a little-known part of history, but one that pro-immigrant activists are enthusiastically reclaiming amid divisive rhetoric surrounding immigration policy. The 19-foot statue will stand at the center of a new plaza on Cesar Chavez Avenue and Spring Street.

Councilman Jose Huizar, whose constituents include many Latinos, said that while the statue has been in the works for years, he was happy the groundbreaking happened right before President Trump’s first visit to California as president.

“We have a president that has belittled the contributions of immigrants, particularly Mexican immigrants,” he said. “I take great pride in it. It’s going to show that here in Los Angeles we accept diversity, we celebrate diversity and we think it’s one of our greatest strengths.”

Mr. Huizar said he’s thrilled the statue will be next to El Pueblo, Los Angeles’s historical city center.

“The idea was to create a plaza that would acknowledge different ethnicities, including Native Americans, that have struggled to tell their story,” he said.

California Today goes live at 6 a.m. Pacific time weekdays. Tell us what you want to see: CAtoday@nytimes.com.

California Today is edited by Julie Bloom, who grew up in Los Angeles and graduated from U.C. Berkeley.